A Mormon Bishop Stiffed Investors Of $400,000 In TARP Ponzi Scheme

A federal grand jury has charged former Mormon bishop Julius C.
Blackwelder with running a ponzi scheme that allegedly
bilked investors out of $400,000.

According to a release from The Office of the Special Inspector
General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP),
Blackwleder, 59, supposedly told investors he using a line of
credit from Bank
of America, a recipient of TARP funds, to finance a fund
called "Friend's Investment Group."

Instead, Blackwelder allegedly "used investors' money to pay his
own expenses, which included repaying earlier investors in the
scheme, building a waterfront home in Stratford,
and repaying personal bank loans," including the line of credit
from BofA.

Blackwelder, formerly a Bridgeport resident and now residing in
Utah, is charged with with nine counts of money laundering and
mail and wire fraud in connection with the alleged investor fraud
scheme.